IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
It was coordinator day at NovaCare, the last scheduled news conferences for Jim Johnson, Marty Mornhinweg and Rory Segrest before training camp opens July 21 at Lehigh. Here are some highlights:
Johnson seemed quite impressed by the offseason improvement of defensive end Victor Abiamiri, who seems to be following the Brodrick Bunkley trajectory -- no impact as a rookie, suddenly becoming a guy they're counting on as a second-year player. Hey, it worked last year for Bunk. This will be addressed in more depth in Friday's Daily News, but Johnson said of Abiamiri: "He's a different person. He plays with a lot of confidence and he knows the defense. He's going to be on the field quite a bit."
Johnson also really wishes Lito Sheppard wasn't boycotting, because he has some packages he wants to work on with Lito, Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown all on the field at once, and he can't do that without Lito. Of course, right now he doesn't have Samuel either, since the big free agent acquisition tweaked a hamstring in Wednesday's workouts.
By the way, clearing up a lingering misperception in the media and maybe among the fans: Unless I missed it, nobody from the Eagles has said Sheppard will be a backup or a parttime player this season. Samuel will start on the left side, which has been Lito's job. But no one has said for sure that Brown will start ahead of Sheppard on the right side. And Johnson reiterated yesterday that in nickel situations, Brown would play inside, Sheppard outside.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg seemed to be trying not to give rookie wideout DeSean Jackson the big head, while making sure reporters understood that (pssst. -- looks like this guy can really play!)
Marty said that skill position players who contribute early in their careers tend to me "more natural-type players."
Asked how he'd define Jackson, Mornhinweg said: "I think he's a natural football player."
Just in case DeSean is reading this, Marty also said: "I think he's got a chance (to contribute on offense as a rookie). He's got a long way to go. A lot of hard work still left. However, he does have a really high skill and ability set. If everything goes well, if he does the hard work, puts in the time, puts the preparation in, he may very well help the football team."
The funniest part of Mornhinweg's session was when he was asked a series of questions about wideout Hank Baskett. Mornhinweg wanted to say that Baskett's lack of production last season wasn't Baskett's fault. But he kind of danced around it, because he couldn't bring himself to say: "For two thirds of the season our quarterback couldn't move and our tight end was hurt, so we kept running Baskett out there to freaking block, because he's really big and strong and the pass rush was killing us. Thank God he was willing to do it without complaining. He's a wonderful young man. This year we might actually be able to let him catch footballs again. We owe him."
Special teams coordinator Rory Segrest expects to have a way better return game this year, between Jackson returning punts and either running back Lorenzo Booker or rookie safety Quintin Demps returning kicks. The kickoff thing isn't set, but those are definitely the early leaders
By the way, meant to mention this when fourth-round rookie guard Mike McGlynn signed on Wednesday. Don't you think he looks a little like "Kevin" from "The Office"?
Consider:
Finally, the Birds' front office can breathe easier now, knowing it's about to get the $769,120 owed by a former wideout. No, Todd Pinkston isn't offering reparations for the 2004 NFC Championship Game. But now that he has a new 4-year, $34 million extension from the Cowboys, the always gracious Terrell Owens plans to pay the money the league ruled he owed after being dismissed from the team in November 2005.
"I don't mind paying that," Owens told reporters, according to the Dallas Morning News. "It's not a big deal considering what happened [Tuesday].
"They can have it how they want it. They want it in cash, pennies, they can get it."
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
